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Emily Barnes / The Florida Times-Union

EMILY BARNES/Times-Union
Northwestern Middle School language arts teacher Edward Moore founded B.A.D.D. as a mentoring program to help some of his students in the less-than-affluent neighborhood.


Emily Barnes / The Florida Times-Union

EMILY BARNES/Times-Union
Edward Moore talks to students and members of B.A.D.D. - Brothers Accountable Drive & Determined - at Jacksonville's Northwestern Middle School, where he teaches language arts to seventh- and eighth-graders.

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Last modified 2/4/2008 - 5:31 am
Originally created 020408

He creates B.A.D.D. to do some good


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The mentoring program takes time, but it pays (if not in cash).


Edward Moore, who grew up in a tight-knit family in Greenville, N.C., says he's always been "a big friend and family person."


   

So living for the past three years in Jacksonville, a long way from his childhood home, has been a little hard on him.

But Moore has found a nice substitute - an extended "family" of about 45 teenage boys, members of B.A.D.D., an organization he founded in 2005 as Brothers Accountable Driven & Determined.

Before moving to Jacksonville, the North Carolina A&T; State University graduate worked as director of an Atlanta call center. When it closed, he moved here to be close to his fiancee, with whom he since has split.

He decided to make a career change and took a job teaching language arts to seventh- and eighth-graders at Northwestern Middle School on 45th Street, northwest of downtown.

The neighborhoods there aren't affluent; Moore said he was shocked to discover that many of his students had never seen the Atlantic Ocean.

So he decided to start B.A.D.D., a mentoring program for male students (another teacher, Regina King, started a sister organization called FIERCE). Participation is strictly voluntary and there are no requirements for membership other than a willingness to be involved, he said.

Besides meeting every other week, B.A.D.D. undertakes various service projects - members often spend Saturdays at the Edgewood Nursing Center - and regularly goes on field trips to places such as area colleges. There also is an annual banquet at the end of the year, a formal affair to which the boys wear tuxes, most for the first time in their lives.

This year Moore, 36, is planning to take as many kids as he can on a three-day trip to Atlanta, though he admits he's still not entirely sure where he'll get the funds.

"I've lost sleep over the Atlanta trip," he said during an interview after one of B.A.D.D.'s regular Friday afternoon meetings in his language arts classroom.

For Moore, who has the help of two other Northwestern teachers - Gregory Kennedy and John Brown - running B.A.D.D. is strictly a labor of love.

He hasn't had a free weekend since he started doing it, he said, partly because Saturdays are given over to visits to the nursing home, field trips or fundraisers such as a charity car wash; on Sundays he usually takes some of the boys to church with him.

But he said he also spends a lot of time visiting their homes on weeknights or weekends and also sometimes has two or three over to his Westside apartment. All his kids have his home phone number, he said.

Usually they do fun stuff, like watching a football game on TV or going to a movie.

But he's perfectly happy to be the disciplinarian if that's what a parent or a fellow teacher needs him to be, he said. At the request of a desperate mother, he's spent an hour sitting in a living room staring down a kid who refused to do his school work.

"I'm tough," he said.

Brandon Wright and Coron White, two residents of the notorious Cleveland Arms apartments, both cited the "positive influences" of their B.A.D.D. participation as one important factor helping them to avoid the violence and crime that often plagues their neighborhood.

Despite all the extra hours, Moore receives no extra pay for leading B.A.D.D. On top of that, his teacher's salary is about half of what he used to make in the corporate world, he said.

But that doesn't bother him.

"It's really rewarding to me," he said. "Sort of like a paycheck, but you can't put it in the bank."

"He's a very positive influence," said Vivian Forshee, Northwestern's assistant principal. She laughingly recalled watching Moore take some of his dreadlocked, dungareed students and put them into formal wear for the year-end banquet. The group recently agreed to wear collared shirts and ties each Wednesday.

Carla Mobley, whose son Ian is a B.A.D.D. member, said she considers Moore "God's gift to children."

While her son has a father who is active in his life, there are a number of kids in B.A.D.D. who have very little contact with their fathers, she said.

"He makes such a difference in a lot of these kids' lives," she said. "These are kids, but they are in the process of becoming men.

"He shows them what a man should be."

charlie.patton@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4413


The BADD pledge:

Group: I pledge to be a brother of B.A.D.D. A brother who is accountable, driven and determined.

Leader: Accountable!

Group: For my actions!

Leader: Accountable!

Group: For my destiny!

Leader: Accountable!

Group: For my success!

All: In my home, in my school, in my community, I will be accountable to continue good endeavors and stop those that are negative.

Leader: Driven and determined!

Group: To serve, protect, and uplift my community!

All: I am B.A.D.D. A well-deserved member of B.A.D.D. We are brothers, brothers accountable, driven and determined. B.A.D.D.


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